[2]In an interview with The Associated Press, Yankees Hall of Famer Goose Gossage wasn’t shy about voicing his opinion about this week’s Hall of Fame voting results, which sent a clear message that writers are not nearly ready to elect anyone connected to steroid speculation.

“If they let these guys in ever — at any point — it’s a big black eye for the Hall and for baseball,” Gossage said. “It’s like telling our kids, ‘You can cheat, you can do whatever you want, and it’s not going to matter.’ … I think the steroids guys that are under suspicion got too many votes. I don’t know why they’re making this such a question and why there’s so much debate. To me, they cheated. Are we going to reward these guys?”

Al Kaline made similar statements to the AP, and Dennis Eckersley tweeted that it “feels right” that suspected steroid users got such limited support in this year’s voting. Juan Marichal actually took an opposite point of view, telling the AP that players who were never proven to have used steroids have been treated unfairly.

There was never any doubt that, one way or another, this year’s ballot was going to stir this sort of passion and controversy.

“I don’t know if baseball knows how to deal with this at all,” Gossage said. “Why don’t they strip these guys of all these numbers? You’ve got to suffer the consequences. You get caught cheating on a test, you get expelled from school.”